AT A GLANCEHugh J. Boyd Elementary School has received donations ranging from cash to classroom supplies since superstorm Sandy. Today , Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., will visit Central Regional High School, where students are now housed, to present books from the Library of Congress’ Surplus Books Program. Visit Home & School, blogs.app.com/learning, for more on what’s going on in our schools.

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Scan the QR code for a video on the new normal for Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School students or search “Boyd school” at app.com for the video and a photo gallery.

Ten weeks have passed since students passed through its halls, now a home to trash cans and cleaning equipment.

Damage from superstorm Sandy, which officials estimate at $1.2 million, forced evacuations of the borough and pushed Boyd students and teachers to a temporary home at Central Regional High School in Berkeley. They will stay there for the rest of the school year, but school officials are now confident of a fall reopening.

“It did get a lot of damage, but there’s good bones to this school, so once we repair the damage inflicted, it’s going to be nicer than before,” school board member Peter Smith said.

When Sandy hammered town two months ago, water breached from the ocean and rose from the bay, flooding the small school building from a few inches to a foot, collapsing its gym floor and staining nearly every inch with mud.

School officials surveyed the building within a week, and cleanup efforts started soon after on the structure that Smith dubbed “the sparkling diamond of the town.”

The carpeting had to be ripped out, and water-damaged items, such as classroom furniture and dry wall, became trash, Principal Chris Raichle said. Library books, classroom supplies, and other items spared destruction sit in hundreds of cardboard boxes stacked 7-feet high throughout the gym.

“When we first came back with the teachers, it was tough,” Raichle said. “There were a lot of emotions. A lot of them have been here 20-plus years, so to see the school all in boxes was tough on them, but we’ll be back.”

Federal Emergency Management Agency and insurance funds should cover the bulk of the cleanup and rebuilding costs, but an estimated $125,000 to $200,000 remaining from the total costs will have to come from the school district budget, said Business Administrator Kevin O’Shea.

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One bright note out of the storm is that the school is now on the fast track to doing planned renovations, O’Shea said. Students will return in the fall to new floors and better air conditioning, he said.

While the Boyd school undergoes heavy renovations, its students and staff have tried to adjust to a new environment, carved out of the history wing of the Central Regional High School. There are 140 students, down from the 230 that started the year at Boyd, because of displacements from Sandy.

Sherie Ensor, who teaches second grade, said the teachers were surprised but relieved to learn how resilient their students have been through the difficult process. Some of them walked in the doors as if the school was always their own and others joked that they made it to high school before their older siblings, she said.

Some of the changes that come with a school that’s a little farther away was exciting for Cameron Murphy, 5.

Living in a town that is small enough for many kids to walk to school never allowed an opportunity to ride a bus. But the idea makes Cameron’s eyes light up. The bus ride is her favorite part of the day.

“When I get to school, it goes bumpy,” she said.

Marsha Dionsio, a fourth-grade teacher with 28 years at Boyd, can easily picture her old classroom that overlooked the same bay that helped flood part of the building.

The unprompted generosity from others and a close staff, many of whom suffered through Sandy personally as well as through the school, has helped with the healing process, she said.

“We’re still keeping together. We all have hope and know we’ll be getting back. Now, it’s just a waiting game,” Dionsio said.

Eric Szejnrok, a 12-year-old sixth-grader, said he misses Boyd and is a little hurt that he won’t have class there again. He graduates this year. But, he said, at least he will be better prepared when he returns to Central Regional.

“When I go to high school, I’ll know what it’s like to be here,” Eric said.